Battaglia a Fasciatoio

Otherwise known as Battle at Changing Table. We now fight this battle on a daily basis. I curse the day I chose a changing table with a lip on the back. Her little hand fits just perfect and she can turn over in a second. I have learned a nice distraction tactic though. As soon as her butt hits the table I hand her a tube (lotion, butt cream, whatever) and she will usually occupy her self with that while I do the dirty work. Sometimes she just wants to flip over though.

She's screaming in the beginning because I had just flipped her over, off of her stomach. Funny how fast she goes from a screaming demon to happy, smiley baby. Are we in for it or what?

The Sweetest Sound

As much I always say I am not going to be one of those moms who compares their kid to every other one on the playground sometimes it is hard to worry about if they are up to speed. Sam has always been a little bit slow in developing verbal skills. She didn't babble at an early age. In fact when we were at her 6 month appointment and the nurse asked if she talked back when we talked to her I think I mumbled "sometimes". I couldn't even tell you the rest of the questions she asked because for the next 30 seconds all I kept thinking was "oh my gosh we are missing a milestone. What if something is wrong? Does her limited babbling even count as talking back? Did I just lie to the nurse?" The doctor assured me that she was fine and babies develop different skills at different times. But still, I worried.

At Target this weekend we found our voice. Finally I was the person with the baby showing off her vocal skills with noises like "ba, ba" and "mamama" and "dadadad"and disrupting the other shoppers. I am sure the people around me were thinking "Wow, that kid's loud" and maybe even a few were thinking "Can't she keep that kid quiet?" All I could think was "that is the sweetest sound I have ever heard". I just kept chattering back to her and encouraging her to "talk". Just thinking about the two of us wandering Target bantering back and forth makes me smile.

This was the dinner conversation at our house last night.

Like Father, Like Daughter

I am a lucky girl. My husband loves to clean the floors. I don't know that he loves the cleaning of the floors as much as having sparkly tile through out the house but they are pretty much one and the same if you ask me. We even have one of those mop buckets you remember seeing next to the janitor in elementary school. But the vacuum gets used the most and usually not by me.


With 2 labs we have gone through 4 vacuums in 6 years. The one we got last Christmas seems to be holding up well and may be in for the long haul. By long haul I mean over 18 months. Since birth Sam has loved the vacuum cleaner. At first it was just the white noise and a last resort when she was really fussy. There we were the happy little family of three - 2 exhausted parents and a baby in her car seat carrier next the roaring vacuuum cleaner that's propped up on the wall. But now she likes to chase it. She will get in her Around We Go and off she goes. It cracks me up every time. And lucky for KC this inspires me to use the vacuum cleaner more often. (Although in the video below it is Auntie Kara.)


Proof that Sam loves the vacuum like her dad loves the vacuum.

Another Food Post? Sheesh.

Yes, another food post. Food has been an ongoing issue since Sam came home from the hospital. We went through a phase of not eating and losing too much weight. And then a phase of some very painful stomach problems. Now food isn't so much as issue as an ongoing event in our house. Over the weekend we had a few firsts.

1.) First time we flip flopped - Blueberries are now on the like list. Is this a sign of a future politician?
2.) First Biter's Biscuit - I spent a good 10 minutes in Target looking for zwieback crackers and could only come up with biter biscuits. I am assuming they are the same thing or so close it doesn't matter.
3.) We tasted graham crackers! And loved them! See video below.
4.) I bribed her with puffs for most the time we were in Target. (It takes me a while to make my way through there!)

5.) We tried strawberries for the first time and the jury is still out. See picture below.

Dinner with dad = peas in the ear, hair, etc...

Loving the biter biscuit! I think these may have to be reserved for areas when she not as mobile. After making it nice and gooey she dragged it along the floor after herself as she crawled. And then brought gross to a whole new level when she used it to pet the dogs. It would have gone straight to the trash but then she abandoned it in favor of something else and Raja quickly snapped it up. Up until Sunday Raja's interest in her had waned. Now that she is possible source of food we are back to the love fest.

After all the panting and excitement over a graham cracker there's not much I can say.

Not quite sure what we think about strawberries yet.

Uniqua, Pablo, Tyrone, Tasha, and Austin = my new BFF's

Ahhh, the Backyardigans. I apologize to anyone who thought we were BFF's. I'm sure we were but I have to drop you in place of the people that can calm a screaming child in just a few short piano notes. Or distract a fussy baby from the fact that while she may feel entitled to the remote/phone/necklace I am wearing she is not going to get it. I still love my old BFF's but you just don't have the power.

This is what the power looks like.

And now you see why they are my new best friends.

This is one of my favorite videos! And we managed to capture a milestone on video. You can tell by the look on KC's face when he realizes she is clapping for the first time!

A Picture Show! (or 2)

We were having So much fun last night just crawling around on the floor that we had to get the video camera out.

Cruising, Indians, and Sippy Cups

KC and Sam survived my work trip. When I finally made it home on Saturday Sam had all kinds of new tricks to show off. I had to catch them on video.

We are an expert at pulling our self up using the ottoman and the couch. And we can even cruise a bit if something we really, really want is out of reach.

It looks like a rough spill at the end of the video above but she was fine!

Our first sippy cup. I still can not believe that she is old enough for a sippy cup!

The introduction of the sippy cup has KC singing "I drink from a sippy cup, sippy cup, sippy cup. 'Cause I'm a big girl now." Charlie Waffles (The drunk kids singer that Charlie Sheen played on Two and a Half Men)

Our little Indian (Is it even PC to say that? I am offending a ton of people right now? If so, Sorry!)

And we discovered the book on our Around-We-Go. She will be running around and around yelling and making noise and then get to the book and get really quiet. She seems like she is concentrating so hard on it.

Bedtime Update: Not that this explains the randomness of the last 3 months but apparently this week can be explained by teething AGAIN! I'm not sure that she's actually cutting teeth but her top gum is really swollen. Miss Emily (the most amazing caregiver in the whole world, who Sam absolutely adores) discovered this on Thursday. KC mastered bedtime while I was gone with a lot of rocking and snuggling and both nights she slept great! But just in case it was a fluke the sleep book Christina recommended is sitting in my mail box waiting for me.

We survived our first road trip!

We survived the drive to Houston and had an awesome weekend with Auntie Kara. It took us a very long 6 hours to get there and we had one or two meltdowns but overall we did very well. I had not been to visit Kara in her new place since she moved in last summer. It is so cute! Sam loved crawling around on the floor. ( I forgot what it was like not to worry about dog hair everywhere.) We even showed Kara our new scooting skills. She was so impressed.

Sam had dinner when we got there and for whatever reason the nail clippers sent her into fits of giggles. Here is the video that I managed to get with my digital camera. (The video camera stayed in Dallas).

Saturday was filled with pool time, eating, shopping, more eating, more shopping, and a trip to our favorite place in the whole world - Target! In all our adventure lasted 9 hours! Thank god Sam is a trooper. Marathon shopping days seem to happen whenever girls together. Auntie Kara even put Sam to sleep. Back tickles and lots of snuggles seemed to do the trick.

On Sunday we got to have brunch (homemade waffles, crispy bacon, fruit, eggs, and all kinds of other yummy breakfast food) at the McCord's and meet Buster. Since Buster weighs in at only 5 pounds Sam wasn't sure what to make of him. Her own pups outweigh Buster by a mere 80 pounds each.

Overall we had a fantastic weekend in Houston and I am sure we will head down at least one more time this summer.

Ready to start our big adventure

Showing Kara our scooting skills (with a little Zoe motivation)

The bathing beauty is ready to hit the pool

Hanging out with Auntie Kara

Lunch at the Black Walnut Cafe (We had salad and pasta. Sam had table and pears.)

Wiped out after lunch and a few stores.

After a nap ready to keep shopping! (Obviously my kid, even if she doesn't look like me.)

Future Mustang? (KC says only if Auntie Kara is footing the bill)

Meeting Buster

On our way home. This is the look of "please, please get me out of this seat. My butt is falling asleep."